Foreign Civil Status Documents and Registration in Türkiye

Our Approach to This Procedure

The country of the document, the competent authority and its finalization are checked. Exemptions from certification under conventions are assessed separately from the routes of administrative registration and judicial recognition.

Registration of Births, Marriages, Divorces and Deaths Abroad

That a birth, marriage, divorce or death certificate issued in a foreign country is valid in that country does not mean that the event is automatically entered in the Turkish civil registry records. The type of document, the issuing authority, its finalization status, the apostille or certification, the Turkish translation and the authority to apply to must each be checked.

In this context:

Registration in the Turkish civil registry of a child born abroad
Foreign birth certificate and multilingual birth record extract
Registration of a marriage contracted abroad through a diplomatic mission or the population directorate
Foreign marriage certificate and multilingual marriage record extract
Administrative registration of a foreign decision of divorce, or of annulment or invalidity of marriage
Recognition and, where necessary, enforcement for decisions that do not meet the conditions for administrative registration
Registration in Türkiye of a death that took place abroad
Foreign death certificate and multilingual death record extract
Resolving differences in name, surname, date or family ties in a foreign document
Apostille, consular certification and notarized translation
Review of a foreign decision for public order and finalization

are carried out. Entering a foreign divorce decision in the civil registry and enforcing the maintenance, compensation, custody or property provisions of the decision in Türkiye are not the same procedure.

Is an apostille required for every foreign document?

No. The type of document, the country in which it was issued and the applicable international convention are decisive. An exemption from certification may apply to multilingual record extracts; where necessary, an apostille or another certification route and a Turkish translation are assessed. If applications for administrative registration are to be made at different times, the relevant application interval and the exceptions for one-sided applications should be checked in advance.

Preparing for the Consultation and Scope of Services

Prepare the record you believe is wrong or inconsistent, the official documents on which that record is based and, if there is one, the rejection letter. Also state the dates of any notifications and procedures. Do not share unnecessary personal data before it has been assessed which documents the file actually requires.

The scope of the administrative application, lawsuit, appeal and post-decision procedures, as well as the attorney’s fee and other expenses, are agreed separately. The outcome and the end date are not guaranteed.

From Antalya to Personal Status Matters Across Türkiye

Güneş & Güneş Law Firm, founded in Kemer on March 18, 1999, assesses personal status procedures in all 81 provinces of Türkiye according to the subject-matter jurisdiction, territorial jurisdiction, representation and evidence requirements of the file. Our actual headquarters has been in Antalya since 2007.

In Türkiye-related record and document procedures of persons living abroad, the requirements of diplomatic missions, foreign documents, translation and registration are handled together. Local procedures in a foreign country are coordinated separately with lawyers authorized in that country when necessary.

Languages of communication: Turkish, English, German and Russian.

Legal Basis

Depending on the nature of the request, the Turkish Civil Code, the Population Services Law and the relevant procedural provisions are applied together.